
FT MEADE 
GenCol1 


CREIGHTON 

PEET 











































' 


































































Dude Ranch 










Dude Ranch 

The Story of a Modern Cowboy 


By 

CREIGHTON PEET 

w 



JUNIOR PRESS BOOKS 

albertXwh itman 

4C0 

CHICAGO 

1939 


Copyright 1939 
By Albert Whitman & Co. 




3 1 - 1W| 


JUL 2S 1939 

C'ClA 1 3 0 5 53 , ^ 


Lithographed in the U. S. A. 



Pettibones lived out in Montana on a dude ranch. 
One day he was sitting on the corral fence watch¬ 
ing the boys do a little plain and fancy roping. 




The lady dudes sat across the way while Little 
Bones dropped a rope around a colt’s neck, just as 
slick as you please. 






/ 


Little Bones led the roped colt around the corral 
for the lady dudes to admire. 











Sometimes the colts were a little ornery, and it 
took two or three men to get them tied. 



Just then some neighbors drove up with Jimmy, 
who was Pettibones’ best friend. Pettibones asked 
him to stay for a few days, and see the round-up 
and the rodeo; and Jimmy said, “Sure, why not?” 


So Little Bones went over to the corral where the 
fresh horses were, and roped a likely little pinto for 
Jimmy to ride while he was visiting. 

“What’s his name?” asked Jimmy. 

“He hasn’t any yet,” said Pettibones. 

“How about Strawberry Shortcake, because of all 
those white spots?” 

Pettibones thought it over, and said it was O.K. 
with him if the horse didn’t mind. 












After Shortcake was saddled, Pettibones said 
maybe they should go for a ride, so Jimmy could 
try him out. 




As they went along the boys got to planning 
what they were going to do when they grew up. 
Jimmy said he wanted to be boss of a big cattle 
outfit. 



Then they decided to give Shortcake a real work¬ 
out, and raced down to the ranch. 








At the saddle-house they found Dorothy May, 
Emily Anne, and Alice, and Pepper, the dog. They 
were all glad to see Jimmy, and asked him how he 
was making out with his pinto. 







Jimmy said “Fine” and showed them how he 
could even stand on Shortcake’s back. Then they 
noticed the silver buckle on his belt which said, 
“First Prize, Sheridan Rodeo.” 




They weren’t going on the round-up for a couple 
of days, so Jimmy gave Shortcake a pail of oats, 
just to show he was friendly, and turned him out 
to pasture. 



On the way back to the saddle-house they passed 
Santa Claus, the St. Bernard. When he saw them 
he was so pleased he knocked over a chair just by 
wagging his tail. 



Then the girls went off for a swim, but Jimmy 
was too busy learning about a new ranch. He saw 
Owen fooling with a rope, and asked him how to 
do the butterfly. Finally Owen made a big loop 
with both of them inside. 





The next morning Jimmy was up by five o’clock, 
but Owen told him dudes never woke up that early, 
so he practiced roping, and got to talking about his 
plans. “Suppose you were a kid my age and wanted 
to have an outfit of your own some day, what would 
you do?’’ 



“Well,” said Owen, “first of all I’d get myself a 
pardner.” 

By this time they were inside the saddle house, 
and Jimmy asked about the best way to make a 
hondo, which is the loop your rope runs through in 
a lasso. 



While he was fixing a shoe on a lame mare for 
one of the dudes, Jimmy thought about getting 
himself a pardner. 



“Hey!” he called over to Pettibones, “want to be 
my pardner when I start my ranch some day ?” 

“Sure thing!” answered Pettibones, “and we can 
take Santa along for a watch dog.” 



After lunch they took Jimmy over to the farm¬ 
yard to look at the chickens and the pigs. 







' ^W'i 


■ 







Jimmy opened the gate, and they all went in. 




In the yard they picked up some of the hens while 
the chore-man went into the hen-house to look for 


eggs. 



The pigs got a pail of milk and scraps. 













Then Jimmy and Santa went out to the pasture 
to make sure Shortcake was getting along all right. 


Early the next morning Jimmy was up wran¬ 
gling the horses and getting them saddled so they 
would be ready when the dudes wanted to go 
riding. 




When all the other work was done the boys roped 
Shortcake, and called Santa. 







In a few minutes the dudes and ranch hands were 
on their way to the Horsecamp in the hills. Jimmy 
asked a lot of questions about what it was like back 
east, but the dudes were so glad to be out west they 
didn’t tell him much. 


They were going to pick up some fresh horses 
for a new batch of dudes who were coming the next 
day. Jimmy and the cowhands rode up into the 
back country, and wrangled the horses down to¬ 
ward the camp. After a couple of hours they started 
breaking over the crest of the hill. 







Some of the horses had not been saddled since the 
summer before, and were sleek and fat and inclined 
to be a little wild at first. 


t 





The wranglers followed them, and Jimmy kept 
a sharp lookout for any bunch-quitters, that is, 
horses with independent ideas who try to break 
away from the pack and head back to the range. 


As they got nearer the corral they kicked up a 
big cloud of dust, and the corral posts shook as the 
horses pounded against them. Jimmy asked Hank 
how many horses they had in all, and he said about 
a hundred and sixty. 



After they had picked some fresh horses for the 
new dudes they went back to the ranch, and Jimmy 
spent the afternoon running the mower in the 
alfalfa so there would be some hay to put in the 
barn. Hank said that even in winter they kept 
about twenty head of horses at the ranch, and they 
had to have hay for them. 



After dinner they all played a game of softball, 
and Jimmy made a home run! 








Dorothy May and Alice thought Pepper needed 
a bath, but he didn’t seem to think much of the 
idea. 

A family of kittens lived out by the kitchen, and 
every evening Emily Anne gave them a pan of 
milk. 




They were getting along fine until one night a 
coyote sneaked in, and killed two chickens, and al¬ 
most caught the kittens. When Jimmy told one of 
the dudes about it, the dude said they’d better go 
hunting for that coyote. 



First they stopped off in Lame Deer, where the 
Indians live, and Dick and Jimmy asked if any¬ 
body had seen a man named Goofy Dark Night. 
They thought maybe he would be able to trail the 
coyote for them, but Goofy was gone for the day. 


So Jimmy and Mac went up to the landing field 
with the dude while he tuned up his plane to look 
around for the coyote. Jimmy had never seen a 
plane near by before, and asked about everything. 
He figured if he was going to be a rancher himself 
he’d better find out about all the junk dudes have 
around. 



When the dude came back from scouting around 
he told Jimmy the coyote must be over to the east. 
So they went along very slowly through the sage¬ 
brush, being careful not to let the coyote catch their 
scent. 


They sat down on a rise of ground, and looked 
everywhere, but couldn’t spot the coyote. How¬ 
ever, they did shoot a bobcat which had got wind of 
them and decided he’d better move. So they gave 
up, and rode back to the ranch, because they had 
to start early the next day for the round-up. 


After supper Pettibones went out and played 
with Red Wing, the smallest dog on the ranch. 
Red Wing had a terrible inferiority complex every 
time he looked at Santa Claus, but Santa Claus 
never even noticed he was around. 




The only thing that helped Red Wing’s inferi¬ 
ority complex was the discovery he was bigger 
than the kittens. But even they ignored him. 
Poor Red Wing! 


Next day was the big day! Jimmy was so excited 
he could hardly sleep, and by 4:30 he was up and 
dressed. The round-up was a long way off, and 
Jimmy loaded Shortcake into an auto trailer 
hooked on to the car, so that he would be fresh and 
rested when he got to working the cattle. As soon 
as the dudes had finished breakfast they were off. 



Some of the hardier dudes went on horseback, 
but of course they were not going to ride in the 
round-up, where you need fresh horses. 







They left the cars near the chuck-wagon, and 
Jimmy saddled Shortcake, and rode off with the 
cow-punchers, who were “making a circle” of cattle 
for branding. By ten o’clock they had rounded up 
about 150 head, which is all you can handle at once. 




Jimmy watched closely while the bulls and the 
cows and the calves all came jamming - into the 
corral together, making a terrific noise and dust. 
Hank told him most of the cattle in Montana 
nowadays are Herefords and Shorthorns. 


“Now there’s a mighty thrifty-looking calf,” 
Jimmy said to Pettibones as they drove the last few 
strays into the corral. “If we had a couple like that 
this year we’d have a herd big enough to start our 
own outfit some day.” 

“Sure,” said Pettibones, “only we haven’t any 
calves.” 

All the calf said was “Baaaaaaaaaaa!” 


Only twenty or thirty head of cattle are driven 
into the branding corral at once, new batches being 
cut in when the men are ready for them. 





Inside the corral the men went to work quickly 
and efficiently. A rider slipped a rope around the 
calf’s hind legs, and pulled him over to where the 
branders had built their fire. 





Calves are only about six months old when they 
are branded, and are so small and light that two or 
three men can hold them easily. 


*4 f 




%/E 

JJIJ1 450 

# 

: } ;/ »» 

1 H19N3aiS % 0 t> 

m. 

m£ 

,3ifWVNA0 VU1X3 

i jg| 

L SSQM3 mm 03d rf 



.1? 

M* 

** . 


Each ranch has a brand of its own which is used 
on all its cattle or horses, as a sort of trademark. 
Many different marks can be made from such 
brands as these. You can see the Bones Ranch 
brands painted on the doors of the saddle house, the 
lazy hn for horses, and the for cattle. 








The irons are heated in a wood fire built in the 
corral. Sometimes several ranches will combine on 
a round-up so that many brands will be in use the 
same day. Cattlemen know their calves, because 
the calves stick close to their mothers, which are 
already branded. 


Sometimes nearby ranches send “reps” or repre¬ 
sentatives to help with the round-up, especially 
when they think some of their own cattle may be in 
the herd. The “reps” help with the work, and make 
the round-up a sort of party, old pals sitting to¬ 
gether on the floor of the corral, whittling, spitting 
and swapping yarns. 


While one man is branding a calf another is in¬ 
oculating it with a serum to keep it from getting 
a cattle disease known as blackleg. 


After all the calves were branded and counted 
they were turned back on the range for another six 
months. Although they had made a terrible noise 
while they were in the corral, as soon as they were 
free they quieted down. 


Most round-ups nowadays have a truck which 
carries the food, tents, branding irons, etc. A big 
tent spread over the end of the truck makes a sort 
of kitchen and dining room. The men sleep in the 
small teepees. 


On his way to the chuck-tent for lunch, Jimmy 
stopped to wash up a bit. 












Inside, the cook was mixing up a cake on the 
back of the truck. Cowhands work hard, and eat a 
lot of good solid food, including bread, cake, pie 
and doughnuts. 



In a few minutes the table in the chuck-tent was 
piled with platters of beef, vegetables and bread. 
And in another few minutes everything had disap¬ 
peared. 


By the time Jimmy had finished his meat and 
potatoes the cake was baked, and there was a big 
pan of chocolate sauce to slosh over it. Jimmy had 
three spoonfuls, and came back for a second help¬ 
ing. The round-up was moving on that afternoon, 
so after lunch Jimmy and Pettibones went back to 
the ranch. 



As they were leaving they could see the cow 
hands going over the rope corral to pick some fresh 
horses for the afternoon “circle” or round-up. The 
rope corral is a temporary fence made of rope and 
iron stakes. 


In their off hours the boys did a little knife¬ 
trading. Pettibones had one knife without blades 
which seemed to take quite a little salesmanship. 


The next day they were going to have their rodeo 
at the ranch, so Pettibones went out to the corral 
to get his horse. 



Jimmy helped him, and then saddled Shortcake 
so that he could go out and do his stuff. 


Dorothy May curry-combed Pettibones’ horse 
for him, and polished up the saddle. 


Then Little Bones showed the dudes how to ride 
a wild horse. Cowboys drove the horse into a chute, 
and then dropped a saddle on his back. This horse 
has only a halter, no bridle. 



As soon as the door was opened the horse came 
bucking out of the chute, snorting and kicking, 
pretty mad to find somebody riding him. Riding 
a bucking broncho is dangerous business, and you 
only have to stay on 10 seconds to make it count 
in a contest. 


Another rule is that you can hold the halter-rope 
with only one hand, and must spur the horse three 
times. After the 10 seconds two “pickup men” 
come galloping up, one on either side of you. One 
grabs the halter rope, and the other lifts you off to 
safety. 


Calf-roping was the next event. Jimmy noticed 
that when a cowboy catches a calf, his horse stands 
stock still to keep the calf from pulling away. In 
this contest the cowboy must tie up the calf’s two 
hind feet and one front foot. The ranch record for 
this is 15 seconds. 


















Then Jimmy, who was getting impatient for a 
little action, jumped on to Shortcake and roped 
himself a calf as it came tearing out of the chute. 



In no time at all his calf was down and tied, as 
neat as a bale of hay. 



As a final event Jimmy started to teach Short¬ 
cake to jump, beginning with a very low bar. Short¬ 
cake shied away the first few times, but soon he was 
going over in fine form. 




Next day the Indians sent word they had seen 
some of the Bones’ horses many miles away from 
the ranch. So Jimmy and Dick and Hank loaded 
a couple of saddles on the hood of the car, and went 
off to look. When they found the horses they rode 
them back to camp. 



Cowboys are always very gallant to the lady 
dudes, and sometimes Jimmy helped fasten their 
spurs. 


One afternoon when most of the dudes were off 
riding, Jimmy and Pettibones were sitting in the 
shadow of a fencepost, making plans for their cattle 
ranch, when they saw two girl dudes riding off by 
themselves. 


During the rest of the afternoon they didn’t do 
much except have a little argument. 






While the boys were fooling around on the lawn 
the lady dudes had gone a long way from the ranch. 
After a while they got tired, and stopped to rest. 
While they were sitting down talking, their horses 
had wandered off. 





Later in the afternoon Jimmy and Pettibones 
happened to look up to the hill behind the ranch 
in the direction of Hanging Woman Creek, when 
they saw two horses with saddles, heading toward 
the ranch. Being good ranchmen they saw right 
away they belonged to the two girls who had gone 
out alone. 


The boys couldn’t decide what to do. It was easy 
to see the girls were lost and had no way of getting 
home. But Pettibones thought maybe they weren’t 
far, and could walk back. Jimmy thought maybe 
they should do something. 




Anyway, to be on the safe side Jimmy roped 
Shortcake, and Pettibones’ horse, just as he had 
learned. 
















Shortcake wasn’t really ornery, it was just that 
he didn’t want to make things too easy for Jimmy. 


Pettibones still thought the girls might come 
back if they waited, so they sat down for a while, 
and kept a sharp lookout. 




After a while even Pettibones said they’d better 
do something, so they opened the gate and rode to 
where the girls’ horses were grazing. 



First they caught the horses, and then went off 
in the direction from which they had come. 



They rode quite a piece over a couple of hills, 
and down to a road. On the way they asked some 
cow hands if they had seen a couple of lady dudes 
without their horses, but they only laughed, and 
one said,“Does your mother know you kids are 
out alone?” 



Further along they passed a family of Indians 
going to town, but they were no help, because 
Indians always pretend they don’t understand 
English when they don’t want to be bothered. 



When it got late and they had not found the 
dudes, Jimmy decided they had better go up a 
Forest Reserve fire tower to get a good look at the 
country. 


This is what they saw when they got to the little 
house at the top. At first they couldn’t make out 
anything that looked like dudes, but Jimmy said 
maybe they were over to the west. 



So they went down, and rode west and in a little 
while they saw two tiny figures standing on a hill 
and waving to them. The girls were so happy when 
they saw Jimmy and Pettibones leading their 
horses they almost kissed the boys, which would 
have been a terrible strain on their dignity. 




One afternoon a few days later when Jimmy 
was sitting out in front of the saddle-house help¬ 
ing Owen, he heard Big Bones calling him and 
Pettibones. They both jumped up and ran across 
the yard. 







When they got out behind the barn they saw 
the lady dudes they had rescued, and a couple of 
fine little calves. 

“Now you can start your own herd and have a 
ranch of your own someday,” they said. For a 
minute Jimmy and Pettibones were so happy they 
couldn’t say a thing. 


As they walked back to the ranch house for 
supper they figured they were just about the lucki¬ 
est kids in the cow country. 









* 































































































